


respite

by kiden



Series: still care about mixtapes [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Confessions, Flirting, Innuendo, M/M, steve is an artist okay, unfortunate movie references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 11:41:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20290870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiden/pseuds/kiden
Summary: a little between battles getting together xx





	respite

There’s too much light pollution to see many stars in New York, but the few who make it through are so bright, so spectacular, Tony knows there’s a metaphor in there somewhere. Steve tells him there weren’t many more when he was a kid. Everything has changed in wonderful and awful ways, but it’s still pretty much the same - just new dressings on the same old world. Sometimes Steve finds that comforting. Tony knows it’s terrifying. 

There was a battle in Hoboken today and tomorrow there will be one someplace else. Because there’s always a fight. Always something to fight against or fight for. But for right now the city is quiet, so the entire world is quiet, and Steve rubs his thumb across the sketch pad on his lap, over the outline of the Chrysler Building. Makes a night sky under his fingers. 

And Tony wonders what those hands could make of him. If Steve would see him as more than he is, the way he sees the city, alleys and fire escapes and store fronts; the art of it all. If he could find that beauty in Tony’s details too. He wonders. 

“Draw me,” Tony says. Bats the silence away with one swing. 

Steve laughs.

“Draw me like one of your French girls,” Tony says, wondering if Steve has even seen that movie yet. It’s on The List, for sure. Tony put it there himself. 

“Who needs to give you a reason to take your clothes off?” Steve quips, without missing a beat, and Tony’s insides warm to roughly the temperature of molten lava. 

“You could give me a few,” Tony says, circling his finger around the rim of his beer bottle. “You’d be harder.”

This is usually as far as they get. Here is when Steve pulls back, shuts down, closes shop. There’s no reason for tonight to be any different. 

But it is. 

Steve is still looking out at the city when he says, “I’m easier than you think.” He smudges another line of charcoal with the pad of his thumb. “Just never been the casual type.” 

The world doesn’t slow and the quiet doesn’t become deafening. The soft sounds of the city, so far beneath them, continue on. The scratch of Steve’s charcoal, the beating of Tony’s heart - everything keeps going. Nothing has changed at all. 

And it’s the most wondrous thing. 

No epiphany required. 

“And if I wasn’t?  _ Casual _ , I mean. About this.”

Finally Steve looks at him; those big, blue eyes a daytime sky in the middle of the night. 

“Well,” he starts, so, so carefully, “I’d probably admit I have feelings for you. For a long time now. I’d want you to be sure, because I wouldn’t want to have anything I couldn’t keep.” 

Tony rolls his eyes. 

“You’re already keeping it. You got it,” Tony says, and places his hand palm up on the table. “There’s no one else.”

God, the way Steve smiles. So bright it could light up the tristate area. It’s absolutely  _ disgusting.  _ Tony can’t wait to kiss him.

And he will. But first, he says, “Okay, so, that’s cleared up. Now let’s lose the shirt.”


End file.
